Klaus W. Jonas' bilingual edition explores the literary career of the writer W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), one of the most successful and widely read English playwrights, essayists, and novelists of the first half of the 20th century. Maugham himself contributed a humorous preface in the form of a letter. A chronological account of his life is complemented by two scholarly essays by the author on Maugham's extensive literary work. Of particular interest are the excerpts from the correspondence between Klaus W. Jonas and W. Somerset Maugham, which provide a closer insight into the writer's personality and testify to the close familiarity of the two correspondents. The second part of the edition consists of a detailed bibliography of Maugham's literary works as well as a selected bibliography of more.